


Two Weeks to Skirt the Wall of Mountains

by confucamus



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Feelings, Gen, Missing Persons, Serious Injuries, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 19:23:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15007655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/confucamus/pseuds/confucamus
Summary: THE PROMPT:"This one is very specific. I've been wanting to read an Angharad/Valkyrie AU fic where they both survive the Fury Road. I think their dynamic would have been interesting if they'd have been able to meet especially Angharad's "no unnecessary killing" vs. Val's more wasteland savvy Vuvalini ways in which sometimes it's just a necessity of the wasteland. But her wildness and carefree nature might be appealing to Angharad. Any kind of interaction with these two even if it's not super overtly romantic would be lovely. But honestly i just think they'd look good together.(can be art or fic doesn't matter)"Anyone who wants to write the slash fic sequel to it has my full and enthusiastic consent!(This story contains some of Tyellas' OCs and content- used with permission).Furiosa, Nux, Capable, Vuvalini, and Immortan Joe do not make an appearance but are discussed. Maximosa is mostly just implied that it SHOULD happen.notes at the end





	Two Weeks to Skirt the Wall of Mountains

**Author's Note:**

  * For [YoukaiYume](https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoukaiYume/gifts).



Alive. Inexplicably, the Valkyrie thought to herself. The lack of serious pain baffled her as well. She worried about that. A small cut on your knuckle might aggravate you for days, but you might not feel a cracked pelvis until the adrenaline wore off. She lay motionless, unwilling to test her theory or her body yet. She wanted to savor this tiny moment of peace.

Then she heard tires slowing on gravel and the tell-tale squeak of shoddy brakes. Half a breath later, by pure instinct, she was in a sitting position with her rifle butt to her shoulder. She sighted down the barrel and swiveled to the source of the noise. A rounded, rusted vehicle had parked not fifteen yards away. Its aged chassy had a rainbow of patinas- white paint flecked here, dark orange rust there, dripping blue and green at some joints.

The driver and passenger already had their hands in the air. Their faces were obscured by massive headwraps and goggles. Something about their bearing stayed the Valkyrie’s trigger finger and she waited. Cautiously, the driver let their hand drift to the exterior door handle and thumbed the latch as gently as the rusted mechanisms would allow. The hinges complained loudly.

“We don’t mean no harm. Just out for salvage. Saw a helluvah fight drive by. Reckon you was part of it?” the driver said as they eased out of the car, hands still in the air.  
Valkyrie remained silent and let the rifle track the driver while she kept an eye on the passenger.  
“Imma get out, too. I ain’t armed. Neither is Limnus.”

Valkyrie sneered at that and replied, “No. You better stay put.”  
Her mind was cool and her hands were steady. Briefly, the lack of pain tickled her curiosity again. She wiggled a toe experimentally. All limbs responded as they should. Absurd!  
She spared a half second glance at the ground beside her. The wreck of her bike was there, but Maadi was not.

“How long since the fight drove by?” she ventured.  
The passenger clucked her tongue, “Oh? Hard to say, that.”  
Limnus whipped his head around and said, “Dia! None of that!”  
The passenger did not respond. She sat like a rag-wrapped statue.  
Limnus turned back and said, “I reckon it’s been a day or so.”  
“Other scavs been through here?”  
Limnus and Dia nodded.  
“Did you see them take my partner?” asked Valkyrie.  
They shook their heads no.

Moments dragged on. Thirst was starting to make its presence known on Valkyrie’s parched tongue.  
Here it comes, she thought. Adrenaline is starting to wear off. The pain will begin.  
“Listen,” Dia said, breaking Valkyrie’s spiraling thoughts, “can we give you a lift?”  
Valkyrie nearly shot her then and there. The best plan was for them to bugger off and leave her the hell alone. But again, something made her pause. Nothing about these two turned her gut and Val trusted her gut. She lifted the barrel of her rifle to the heavens then settled its butt into her hip.  
“Shall I help you up?” Limnus said, arms still raised.  
Val tested her legs then rolled into a crouch next to the ruin of her bike.  
“Help me strip this bike?”

With Dia and Limnus’ practiced hands, they cleared the bike of anything useful in short minutes. Val took a heavy pull from her canteen and folded it into a scratchy but beloved blanket. She scanned the horizon. No sign of Maadi. Not even footprints.

The scavengers seemed to be waiting on her word. Val set her mind to remembering the closest Vuvalini cache. Her tribe had dug numerous pits throughout the desert on this side of the mountains for just such an emergency. Well, no one had really imagined an event of this magnitude but the supplies would benefit her just the same. She could expect some water, rations, and guzzoline in such a stash.

She opened her eyes and cast a look over her right shoulder, away from the mountains. She started at what she saw. A great column of carrion birds wheeled in massive, lazy arcs circling the very spot she surmised might contain one of their stockpiles.  
The Valkyrie pointed at it and addressed the scavs, “Will you take me there?”  
Limnus and Dia regarded each other through their impassive masks.  
“You sure?” Dia said finally, “Probably not a pretty sight over there.”  
Limnus’ watched her through his coverings.  
“Yes. Please,” Val said.

 

\-------

Miss Giddy lay in the sand, Angharad’s still form cradled against her side. She had tried swatting the crows away but it was useless. She had not managed to touch one and none were landing, so she just watched their slow circuits in the sky above, allowing herself to be hypnotized by the movement and hoping death took her before they descended. A shallow exhale from Angharad shifted the fine hairs at her nape and Miss Giddy could not help but shudder. This willful, powerful young woman crumpled at her side had endured so much. And all for what? To be crow-food? Their captors had driven off without them. A release of a kind. Freedom to die in the sands. The child, where was the child?

The grind of old brakes and cracking desert rocks pulled her from her ruminations. What now? She sighed internally and did not bother to look upon their newest intruders.  
“She looks like the others. Is this Angharad?” a billowing, black silhouette inquired.  
Miss Giddy finally allowed her eyes to settle on the marauder. Val sank to her knees beside them and offered her her canteen.  
“You must be Miss Giddy. The girls spoke of you, too.”  
Miss Giddy gently disentangled herself from Angharad and accepted the canteen, squinting at the black apparition before her. Val’s wild mane and feathered pauldrons streamed in the breeze around them, her eyes wild with concern as she assessed Angharad. Miss Giddy cast a momentary glance at the two figures wrapped in pale scraps behind her and turned her attention back to her charge.  
“Angharad, can you drink?” she asked.  
The young woman stirred briefly but did not reply. The two scavs approached.  
“She gut-shot?”  
Miss Giddy shook her head, “No. They took her baby.”  
Dia rocked back on her heels.  
Val’s fists trembled, then she patted down her pockets, “I may have a needle and some suet.”  
“No need,” Miss Giddy shook her head again, “I sewed her back up. Unless you’ve got iodine or antibiotics tucked away somewhere, she’s as good as she’s going to get out here.”  
After a pause she added, “Got any painkillers?”  
It was Val’s turn to shake her head.  
Giddy nodded, lips drawn tight.

Val stood and said, “Try to get some water into her,” then turned to the slightly smaller scav, “Dia? Do you have a shovel?”  
The scavs popped the trunk and produced a short handle spade.  
Val searched out the landmarks, held her hand to the horizon, counted out paces, and began to dig. Limnus trudged over with part of a metal carton and helped to scoop away sand.  
The activity roused Angharad somewhat and she made small attempts to swallow some water. The white of her wife-cloth was now a dark red. Miss Giddy stroked her hair.

After a time, Val and Limnus struck metal and they used their hands to excavate the rest. Val pulled out two heavy, sloshing containers and an ammo box. They drug everything over to the car and Val cracked open the ammo case. She pulled out a ration bar and bit it experimentally. Everything tasted as it should so she offered two to Miss Giddy. She held out the box to Dia and Limnus. Each took one and tucked it into the wrappings near their middle. She marveled not for the first time that Dia seemed to have been telling the truth, Val could discern no weapons hidden about their persons. Then she gestured toward the guzzoline container.  
“Payment,” she said, “for your help. And I’ll ask if you can drive us all a bit further. My tribe left a few bikes behind in a bigger stash. If you can get us there,” gesturing to herself, Miss Giddy, and Angharad, “we won’t bother you any further.”  
Dia and Limnus fidgeted with their finger wrappings and looked at each other.  
“Ok,” is all they said.  
Miss Giddy looked at the sky. The crows had vanished.  
Val bent down to Angharad and gingerly placed her hand on her back.  
"Angharad, I'm going to lift you now. It will probably hurt."  
Angharad cracked her eyelids and something close to awareness passed over her features.  
"Are you one of the Many Mothers?" she asked.  
"Yes," Val replied.  
Angharad smiled and shut her eyes, "they found you."  
The corner of Val's mouth ticked up, "yes, they found us."

With great effort, Val hefted Angharad off the ground. She made her way to the open car as gently as she could. Miss Giddy settled herself into the back seat and received Angharad as Val and the scavs worked to position her in the vehicle. Throughout the ordeal, Angharad only hissed under her breath. Val prayed she had not reopened Angharad's wound. When all were settled, Val climbed in the back of the car as well and positioned her rifle for easy access.

"Where to?" Limnus asked, wrapped hands resting on the steering wheel.  
"East," Val said.

\-------

The car was slow. Val reckoned it topped out at 30 kilometers an hour. It would probably take all day to reach the abandoned motorcycles at this rate. Maybe even well into the night. Limnus and Dia seemed perfectly as ease with their pace and surroundings. Val could not decide if they were foolish or lucky. Maybe they'd never been attacked in this stretch of desert? Certainly their car would not bear them to safety and their lack of weapons meant they were utterly defenseless.

The sun continued its march across the sky but somehow the heat never climbed to the blistering, suffocating smother Val had grown accustomed to. So much change in such a small amount of time, Val thought. She decided to count it as another unexpected blessing.

Miss Giddy was leaning against the left hand side of the back seat, Angaharad propped against her. Angharad's feet were tangled with Val's boots in the right hand footwell. Nothing had stirred on the horizon for hours and Val felt her attention uncharacteristically drift. She gazed down at her dusty, patched-up boots. Angharad's bare feet were in stark contrast. The skin there was smooth, no calluses. Even the line of dried blood running down from the bandage on her leg had an elegant curve to it. She followed the length of her leg up to the matted cloth wrapping her body; once white, then crimson, then faded to a rusty brown as the blood dried. Long fingers rested, protecting a still swollen belly even though it was bereft of its contents.

‘She's tall,’ the Valkyrie thought to herself, ‘Almost as tall as me. As Furiosa.’  
Val's idle, wandering eyes finally meandered to Angharad's face and were brought up short by Angharad's frank gaze. Val couldn't help but smile, 'Furiosa's glare as well.'  
Angharad cocked a suspicious eyebrow. The scars on her temple wrinkled with the expression. Dried-up tears had cut riverbeds into the dust on her cheeks.

Val offered her a canteen. Angharad accepted it and took a tentative swallow, then another. Miss Giddy snored quietly behind her. She pressed the relatively cool canteen to her stomach.

"Where are the others?" she asked, "My Sisters? The Many Mothers?"  
Val resettled her rifle on her hip. Still no pain. Amazing.  
"Furiosa, your Sisters, and two men found us out East. We made a decision to strip the Rig and try our luck out on the salt flats. Then the feral suggested we take the Citadel."  
Angharad looked dazed.  
"TWO men? Why were you trying the salt? What about the Green Place?"  
Val deflated slightly, "The Green Place is gone. The Earth went sour and we fled to the dunes. We were living by picking off other scavs when Furiosa found us," Val shot a quick glance at Limnus and Dia but they remained focused on the drive, motionless in the front seat, faces unreadable under the wrappings. If Val’s admission bothered them, they showed no indication of it at all.  
"The Citadel seems to be the best chance we have to make a new Green Place."  
Angharad closed her eyes and swallowed against pain.  
"Two men?" she repeated.  
"Yes. The feral and a boy, painted white. Like the ones we fought before Maadi and I fell."  
Angharad's face remained confused.  
"He seemed to belong to your redheaded Sister," Val offered.  
Angharad stifled a smirk and tucked it back away where she had hidden it before.  
"He seemed to be thoroughly converted," Val said.  
Angahard nodded and said, "Capable has that effect on people."  
Val smiled.  
"How do you feel? she asked.  
Angharad tested her body, shifted around a little, and grimaced.  
"Not as bad as I would have expected, really," she replied.  
Miss Giddy began to wake behind her.  
"Can you let me shift, Angharad, my dear?" She asked.  
"Here, I'll help," Val said, propping her rifle butt into the footwell and its barrel out the window.  
Angharad tested her weight with her arms and Val's hands shot out.  
"Careful, don't overdo it," she said.  
Angharad shot her a reproachful glance. With Val and Miss Giddy's hands tangled on her shoulders, they righted her in the middle seat.  
"I'm sure I can manage," Angharad said.

Angharad passed the canteen to her teacher then and Miss Giddy took a long sip. Miss Giddy tried to pass it back to Val but Val waved it off and took up her rifle again instead.  
“What about you two?” Miss Giddy cast her voice a little further into the front seat.  
The smaller bundle of wrappings pivoted slightly, “Naw, we’ve got our own,” she said gesturing to her own footwell which presumably held whatever supplies they needed. Miss Giddy took her word on it, she was too short to see over the massive bench seat.

“What is your plan?” Angharad asked abruptly.  
Val turned, making sure Angharad was addressing her. The young woman was like the shining sun herself. Val felt momentarily pinned under her eyes.

“We’ll go back to the last rendezvous point and collect the bikes and supplies there. Then we’ll skirt the wall of mountains to the South and assess the Citadel from a distance. If my tribe, your sisters, and Furiosa were successful, we’ll join them there,” she replied.

“And if they weren’t successful?” Angharad asked.

“We’ll figure it out from there,” Val said.

Angharad smiled and faced forward again. Val marveled that such a creature could exist in a world such as theirs. The other girls were beauties to be sure, but Angharad.. Val didn’t quite have the words. Some of her straight-backed poise reminded her of Furiosa, the one she had known so many thousands of days ago. But that wasn’t quite right. Furiosa was never this soft. No, soft was the wrong word. Val’s thoughts spun around Angharad so much she forgot to keep watch. A bump in the road shifted the young woman’s silhouette enough that Val caught Miss Giddy’s contemplative stare. Her eyes were practically boring holes into their guides’ skulls. Val followed her gaze and watched them as well. Suddenly, Giddy broke the silence.

“How do you two get on out here?” she called to the front seat.

Dia swiveled partially again, “Whata’ya mean?”

“No weapons, no defenses, no fast cars. How do you keep away those that would harm you?” Giddy said.

Dia chuckled under her wraps and Limnus shrugged, two hands on the wheel, “We just stay away from them, I guess.”

Val and Angharad watched Miss Giddy. Giddy’s eyes were narrowed but she seemed to let the matter drop. She broke off her scrutiny and watched the dunes roll by instead.

Angharad’s hands moved absently to her stomach again and she winced. A tear escaped and dropped into her clothes. Giddy turned to her charge, her face flat and unreadable.

“Angharad, are you hurting?” she asked.

“No. Not physically. It’s so strange, I expect to feel the baby move, sometimes I think I do, but there’s nothing. It’s gone.”

“He’s gone. It was a little boy. Joe took him from your body but he couldn’t have him either. That boy will never be a Warlord,” Giddy murmured.

Angharad tried to take comfort in that and smiled weakly at Giddy. One hand left her belly and wiped at the smudges on her cheek.

“Here, dear, let me check your wound,” Giddy offered, her face that same impenetrable expression that set Val’s nerves on edge.

“Look away,” Giddy instructed. Angharad was about to protest but Giddy turned to Val and said, “You, too. Both of you look away.”

Giddy’s voice held a tone that brokered no argument from the younger women. Dia regarded her from the rearview mirror.

Giddy carefully peered under the bandages and clucked her tongue. “Not the best but not too bad either,” she mused, then replaced the bandages and resumed her vigil out the window. Val caught her casting a sidelong glance to the front seat and mirror. Dia nodded her head ever so slightly. Or was that just a bump in the road?

The rest of the journey passed in relative silence. Val’s gut told her something was off but she could not pin down what. She still felt no danger from their escorts, and certainly not from Angharad or Giddy, but something made her finger drift closer to the trigger.

\-------

Day dimmed into evening and night. The sky opened above them and the great band of stars wheeled across it. Giddy changed places with Angharad so she could poke her head out of the window and take in the heavens, her view unobstructed for the first time in years.

Miss Giddy reached over and took Val’s hand and whispered, “I’m glad you’re here with us. I’m glad we got the opportunity to meet you.”

Val squeezed gently and smiled, a little bewildered, “I’m glad, too. I can’t wait for you to meet the rest of them. And to reunite you with the rest of the girls.”

Giddy smiled a tight-lipped smile, briefly returned the squeeze, and turned away. Val did not know what to make of Giddy’s behavior. And Angharad kept catching her attention. Her long neck was craned in an arc, lit by starlight. A smile curved Angharad’s cheek. A curve that matched the swell of her belly. It seemed like Angharad was trapped between two worlds- her left hand unsuccessfully trying to corral her hair as it whipped in the wind, right hand still supporting the ghost of her child.  
Val’s fist coiled so tight, the leather of her glove creaked. If Furiosa had not managed to finish Joe, she sure as hell would.

\------

When they finally arrived at the abandoned bikes everyone poured out of the car, grateful to be able to stretch their legs again. Some sand had blown in and half buried the motorcycles but that was easy enough to dig out.

Val turned to Giddy, “Can you drive?”  
Giddy stood staring at the bikes for a long while. A smile crept across her face and she muttered, “Ah well, might as well have a go.”  
She shuffled over to the nearest bike, straddled it, put it in neutral, and started it. Giddy’s arms were so spindly and frail Val instantly regretted suggesting that Giddy drive a bike. How would she ever navigate the dunes? Maybe Val could manage with two people on a sledge behind her bike?  
Miss Giddy seemed to sense her line of thought and shot her a good humored but pointed glare. Val felt like she was an initiate again, caught in some mischief. She smiled and turned, half expecting to see Furiosa there, ready to receive her admonishment for whatever scheme they’d hatched this time. But no, it was Angharad. Was her mind slipping? The young woman was smiling back at her.  
Miss Giddy killed the engine.  
“How long will it take to go around the mountains?” Angharad asked.  
“Two weeks,” Val said.  
Angharad’s smile faded but she nodded and said, “Okay. What do we need?”

\----

Limnus and Dia lingered, seemingly unwilling to leave the women to their fate. Angharad walked just far enough away that the wind partially muted the discussion between their guides and the Valkyrie, Miss Giddy present but staying out of the fray.

Angharad eased herself down into the sand. It was warm. Granular. The sun had risen again but the stifling heat still did not come. It was… pleasant. For lack of a better word.  
She missed her sisters. She worried about them constantly. Had they made it through the pass? Were they safe? Were they defending the Citadel from Joe’s forces right now? Who would be waiting at the Citadel when they got there? Two weeks?? So much had changed in just four days. How much could occur in two weeks?  
Her hands drifted to her belly, again. She did it so often now it did not immediately register to her conscious mind. Nothing moved there anymore. She felt the emptiness like a stone in her gut, heavy and cold. Her chin sank to her chest. The tears came in a flood. How was she here? Where was her son? She’d heard the Organic say it. His horrible sputtering voice answering the monster, right before she lost consciousness. What had they done with him? Where was he?  
Her shoulders shook. Her stomach turned. Her sobs turned into heaves and Miss Giddy was there. Her warm, papery hands smoothed the muscles in her back, muscles flexed so hard they felt like they would tear.  
She let Giddy comfort her. Giddy knew what had happened, what they had all gone through. The Vault had just been the newest in a long string of horrors in her life. And yet she persisted. Angharad would persist, too.

“The motorbikes will be too much for them.”  
The wind died down a bit and Angharad could hear Limnus speaking to the Valkyrie.  
“The wait will be as well,” said Val, “It’s two weeks on the bikes. It will take at least twice as long in your heap.”  
Limnus and Dia turned to one another then back to Val.  
“We will drive faster,” Limnus offered.  
Val snorted and made to walk away. Dia reached out and caught her arm. Val reared to her full height and prepared to strike the other woman. .  
“We’ll follow you the first day. If we can keep up, at least you’ll have some options,” Dia said.  
The Valkyrie relaxed minutely but glared at the hand on her arm. Dia let go and made placating gestures.

Val loaded up a bike and helped Miss Giddy get comfortable among some supplies on a sledge. Then she beckoned Angharad over. She had outfitted them with some spare pants and other odd bits of clothing the Vuvalini had left behind in the cache. They were ill-fitting but better than the blood soaked rags they had had before.  
“May I ride with you instead?” Angharad asked.  
Val was somewhat taken aback but she nodded and adjusted the placement of a couple water canisters. She mounted the bike and gestured for Angharad to climb on behind her. Angharad tossed one leg over the seat and wrapped her arms around Val’s waist. Val smiled to herself then gunned the engine. She could hear the rustbucket Limnus and Dia drove come to life and her smile became a smirk.  
“Let’s see if they can catch us,” she muttered to no one in particular.

\-----

Angharad spent the day pressed up against the Valkyrie’s body. It felt nice to hold someone, someone she could trust. The Many Mothers were real. The Green Place had been real. They would make the Citadel a Green Place or they would die trying. The Valkyrie was the living embodiment of everything she wanted to be- free, fearless, capable, and strong. She let her mind hover in the pleasure of the moment. The Valkyrie’s warm back soothed the ache in her abdomen. Her dark hair tickled her face and tangled in her own sandy-blonde tresses. The smell of her riding leathers was a fragrant perfume in her nostrils. Occasionally, a black feather would brush past her cheek. The hum of the motor sent a warming vibration through her legs and pelvis. Angharad had to shake herself out of her reverie when Val slowed the bike and toed out the kickstand. She steadied herself on Val’s feathered pauldrons then got shakily to her feet.  
“Are you okay?” Val asked.  
Angharad nodded and blushed a bit as she tried to make sense of the tangled mass her hair had become. Val smiled.  
“We’ll find a better way to secure that before we head out again,” she said then turned toward the squeal of brakes.  
Val raised her brows in mock admiration, “So! You did keep up!”  
Dia waved a perturbed hand out the window and Val coughed out a short laugh. Angharad and Val helped Miss Giddy out of the sledge. She made exaggerated stretching motions and said, “if it’s all the same to you, I’ll ride with them for the next leg.”  
Miss Giddy hooked a thumb in the rustbucket’s direction.  
Val smiled and shrugged, sauntering off to make water.  
Miss Giddy pushed the hair out of Angharad’s face and studied her intently.  
“How are you?” she asked.  
Angharad paused and glanced at the horizon.  
“Ok, I think. It’s actually worrying me how okay I feel,” she said.  
Miss Giddy nodded like she understood. She let her eyes drift and then smiled a small smile.

“Angharad. Look there,” she said nodding slightly.  
Angharad turned and saw a small, scrubby bush seated neatly in a crack in the dried, rocky earth just beyond the dunes.  
“Green! Out here?” Angharad gasped.  
Limnus walked over to look.  
“Huh. Things seem like they might be changin’,” he said.  
He turned to Giddy, face still fully obscured by wraps.  
Miss Giddy squinted at him.  
“You think?” she asked.  
Limnus paused before answering.  
“Yeah, even for a place as strange as this, that is an odd sight.”  
Giddy nodded and gazed into the middle distance.

Val returned and topped up her tank from one of her stowed canisters, then offered to do the same for the rustbucket. Dia just waved her off.  
“We’re good for a while yet.”  
Val shrugged and secured the canister to the sledge for the next leg of their journey. Miss Giddy climbed into the car with a litheness that belied her apparent age and previous frailty.  
Angharad slipped back onto the bike behind Val.  
“Your teacher seems to be feeling better. How are you?” Val asked.  
Angharad paused and unconsciously chewed on a finger tip.  
“I feel better. And you’re right. Miss Giddy seems.. almost younger than I’ve ever seen her,” Angharad said, then added, “It’s amazing what freedom can do for you.”  
“I can’t imagine it any other way,” Val said.  
Angharad made to wrap her arms around Val’s waist again then stopped.  
“Do you mind me riding with you? Like this?” Angharad asked.  
Val reached behind her and gently pulled Angharad’s arm around her middle.  
“Not at all. I like knowing someone has my back,” Val said, patting Angharad’s hand.  
Angharad smiled and brought her other arm around as well, then leaned into the embrace.  
Val looked to Dia, who was in the driver’s seat now, and Dia arced a finger toward the western horizon. Val brought her engine to life and descended the last dune into the crusty, hard-packed earth. They would make better time now.

——

About an hour into that ride, Angharad shouted over the growl of the engine.  
“What do you think they’re talking about?”  
It took Val half a moment to piece together what she had said. When she did, she stole a quick glance away from her path and into the rusty, old car beside them.  
Dia was driving with one hand and explaining something with the other. Beside her, Limnus was half turned, one arm over the high-backed bench seat so he could address Giddy as well as Dia. At the end of Dia’s motions, Limnus’ head bobbed in slow and easy agreement. Giddy seemed to rolling whatever idea they had presented over in her mind. Then she spoke in a flurry. Hands flashing to accentuate her words.  
“I’m not sure,” she shouted back, “Giddy seems to have been sizing them up about something for the past day.”  
Val could feel Angharad nod against her shoulder. Angharad hugged her tighter briefly then settled back into the ride.

—

After the next rest and refueling, Angharad took a seat in the car. She looked Limnus and Dia over.  
“You never remove your gear,” she said as the car lurched to life.  
Limnus regarded her in the rearview.  
“No, don’t reckon we do.”  
“Why?” Angharad said.  
Dia turned in her seat. Miss Giddy watched her pupil with a purposefully blank expression. Angharad knew that expression well. Miss Giddy would use it when Angharad fought with her sisters. She used it when she wanted her students to find something out for themselves.  
Ok, thought Angharad, I will do just that. She returned Limnus’ gaze in the mirror.  
“Oh, it’s nothing nefarious,” he said, “just don’t want the sun on me is all.”  
Angharad arched a skeptical eyebrow.  
Limnus laughed and shook his head.  
“Here,” he said and he took one hand off the wheel to grab at the rags across his face. The car swerved a little.  
“Damnit, Lim,” Dia said.  
When he finally worked some of the pale cloth away, his face was rather plain. He was neither pale nor dark, not young, nor sporting the deep lines of old age. There was a smattering of freckles across his cheeks. He smiled cheerily at Angharad in the mirror.  
“See? Nothing special,” he said.  
Angharad could not tell what color his eyes were, some muddy mid-tone. Not quite blue or green. Though not brown either. Everything below his chin and above his eyebrows was still covered. She peered sidelong at Giddy, whole chunks of words disappeared into the folds of her smile lines.  
“You want to see my mug, too?” Dia asked, clearly perturbed.  
Angharad turned to her and gave her best expectant grin, chin moving forward as though it were going to physically push Dia into action.  
Angharad thought that if she could have seen Dia’s eyes, she would have seen them roll back in exasperation.  
Dia was much more efficient with her mask, sending fingers through a particular layer and tugging the cloth aside easily. Dia’s face had that same middling quality to it with the exception of a pronounced bridge on her nose. And of course, no smile.

Angharad folded her arms across her chest and thanked the scavs. Dia and Limnus replaced their coverings and waited.  
“What were you three talking about when I rode with the Valkyrie? Miss Giddy seemed very interested in what you had to say,” Angharad asked.

Dia drummed her fingers on the back of the bench seat.  
“Mostly just wasteland news. Gossip,” she said.  
“And what was so fascinating?” Angharad said, turning to Giddy.  
Miss Giddy inhaled slowly and weighed the answer before replying.

“We were discussing the changes in the landscape. The changes I’ve felt in myself. And what that means for our little party,” she said finally.  
“What changes?” Angharad said.  
Again, Giddy paused.  
“Well, you noticed some in yourself, pet,” she said, “You said you felt better than you expected to. I do, too. I suspect the Valkyrie does as well.”  
Angharad nodded.  
“And how will that affect our party?” she asked.  
“Well, I am more hopeful than I have been in many, many years,” Giddy murmured.  
“That the Citadel will be a new Green Place? That we’ll be strong enough to help when we get there?” Angharad ventured.

Miss Giddy started to reply but Angharad reached out and intertwined their fingers.  
“I hope Furiosa took the Citadel. I hope those people in the canyon crushed Joe under their stones. Miss Giddy squeezed her hand.

“Joe is dead,” Dia said.  
Angharad’s head snapped up and she fixed Dia with an astonished glare.  
“How do you know?!’ She whispered.  
“I saw the earth open up and take him. I saw the demons of hell pull him from his horse and rend him to pieces,” she said gravely.  
Angharad’s brow furrowed.  
“Are you magicians?” she asked, searching her vocabulary for any applicable title. Cheedo had enjoyed fairytales more but Angharad still listened, still devoured every book the Vault had nestled along its walls.  
“No,” Dia and Limnus said as one.  
“Then how did you see such a thing?” Angharad said.  
Limnus shrugged, “when you’ve been out here as long as we have, you tend to start seeing some pretty exceptional stuff.”  
Angharad chewed on that thought. Joe dead. Pulled from his horse. The Gigahorse? Torn to pieces. She leaned back in her seat and stared out the window.

The Valkyrie was there, hair and feathers and cloth whipping in the wind as her motorcycle ate up the miles between them and the Citadel. Her long gun sat in a holster, awaiting its master’s command. Angharad was relieved. Relieved that Joe was dead. Relieved that they would be returning to the Citadel after all. She did not think she could kill like Furiosa did. Like the Valkyrie did. But she did envy the freedom. And the confidence in movement and action these warrior women had. They acted. They were precise. They were ruthless. But they were also compassionate. Furiosa had attacked the Fool. But as soon as he had proven himself as something other than a threat, Furiosa had turned him into an ally. A tool. And a powerful one at that. They way they had moved together.. it was as though they had fought side by side for ages. Angharad wondered if she could find such instinct within herself. Would she move into decisive action if the need arose? She had failed before, stalled out when Furiosa handed her her spent rifle. Would she freeze if her current companions came under attack? Or would she move as one with the Valkyrie as Furiosa had with the Fool? She squeezed Giddy’s hand once more then withdrew and watched the Valkyrie tear through the wastes.

Val was smiling. Her cheeks lifted her goggles slightly and a few stray sand particles invaded their safety. The wind raked her hair and clothes. The bike beneath her vibrated her whole body. She lived for this. She spared no small amount of surprise for the growing number of stunted, scrubby bushes that dotted the rocky landscape.  
Perhaps the aquifer is much larger than the girls ever knew. Perhaps larger than Joe himself knew. Surely if he had, they would have encountered some of his white-painted warrior boys by now. But so far their path had been blessedly free of obstacles. They were making good time. She could almost feel the embrace of her sisters, of Furiosa when they finally reached the Citadel. She wanted so badly to see this hidden trove of water.

Days went by like this. Sometimes Angharad would ride with Val, sometimes in the car. Even Miss Giddy tried a turn on the back of the bike. She laughed and whooped with such enthusiasm that Val joined in with her. Together their calls rolled across the landscape as their wheels brought them ever closer to their goal. Val could have sworn that Giddy looked younger than when she found her under the column of circling carrion birds. Her arms looked stronger, the flesh on her form more filled out. Maybe it was the water they rationed out. Maybe it was finally being free of that tyrant. Maybe it was just the joy of the open plains. Maybe it was all three. Val put her head back and crowed again, uncaring of the danger that might attract. Let them come, she thought. I will put them down.

At long last, they ascended a final bluff and the rolling plains surrendered the silhouette of the Citadel. Val brought them to a stop and Angharad put her feet down on either side of the bike behind her. The younger woman leaned her head on Val’s shoulder and sighed deeply.

The ruskbucket's brakes complained a short distance away and Miss Giddy walked to the top of the hill. She smiled and contendedly folded her arms across her chest. Dia and Limnus leaned against their car. The amount of vegetation now present was confounding.

The sun was casting long shadows across the land. Clouds gathered on the horizon in a myriad of colors. Oranges and yellows blurred into magenta and crimson.  
Val turned to the group and said, “Shall we continue? When can make it in before the moon makes its apex.”

Miss Giddy looked back at their guides as they continued to let their heap hold them up. She nodded and began to walk back to the car. But then something caught her eye and she froze. Val followed her gaze and saw a heavily tattooed man walking toward them. He had appeared from out of nowhere. Val shook her head. She must be overly tired. The edges of the man had seemed to waver briefly. Her hand drifted to her rifle in its holster. Then Miss Giddy sobbed out a laugh. Her eyes welled with tears and her hands flew up over her mouth. Her hands did nothing to hide the all-encompassing smile on her face. One hand flew out toward the man and she staggered into a run. They fell into an embrace, crying and laughing. Val left the rifle where it was.

She and Angharad dismounted and walked toward the delighted pair.

“Oh, Travis! Oh, my friend! I thought I would never see you again!” Giddy managed between happy tears.  
“Come on now, you saw my hide plenty. That big bloke liked my storybook,” he said, a teasing smile all over his face.  
“Agh, how macabre!” Giddy said in jovial horror.  
“But you look so well,” she exclaimed.  
“Yeah love, being dead has done wonders for me!” he said.

Angharad could not believe her eyes- another History Person! This was one of Giddy’s people. She fought the urge the run to the powerful young man. His skin was tawny and he had broad shoulders and an infectious smile. His tattoos swirled in interweaving shapes, so much more organized and ornate than Giddy’s hodgepodge of text. When she looked closer, the man’s tattoos were made of text, too. But smooth and legible, unlike Giddy’s skin that was at times.. Giddy’s skin! Giddy looked like herself, but so much younger. She turned to Angharad and Angharad saw the woman she had been before the Vault, before the Citadel, before even the death of the world. The woman who had been Giddy reached for her and beckoned her close.

“Angharad, this is Travis. We taught together at the university before everything ended. And then we walked the wastes together with Travis’ husband and my friend, Alan, until we came to the Citadel,” the changed Giddy explained.

Angharad put her hand in Travis’ but her eyes stayed on her teacher. Giddy’s featured flickered between ages. Her hair went dark, then silver, then back again. Her tattoos faded then reappeared in waves.

“What.. what is happening?” she said.

She turned back to Val. The warrior woman had drawn into herself. Her expression was flat and she stood straight, her full height brought to bear. Her black hair and feathers flicked around her like a cape in the wind. Her hands making an effort not to seize her rifle.  
Angharad looked at the scavs against their car. Dia nodded slowly.  
Angharad looked down at herself and saw the blood, dirt, and stains vanish from her garb. Shaking fingers reached up to her temple. The scars there smoothed away under her fingertips.  
She whipped her gaze back around to Giddy.  
“Sophia..” Travis said.  
Sophia Giddy held her student and let her cry. Angharad held on fast as sobs wracked her body. All was silent except for her grief. They sank into the soft sand and held each other. Travis knelt nearby and the Valkyrie stared into nothing. Giddy looked up at her and asked, “Val, are you okay?”  
Val gave a curt nod.

After a time, Angharad quieted and straightened. She wiped her face on her sleeves. She steadied herself and regarded the scavs.  
“Where is my son?” she asked.  
Dia pushed herself off the car and folded her hands.  
“Are you ready to meet him?” she said.  
Angharad stood and nodded. Her mouth was pressed firm and the tendons in her neck drew tight as she approached the car. Dia bobbed her head and backed up one pace, revealing the tiny bundle in Limnus’ arms.  
“Good, ‘cause this little guy has been wanting to know what his name is,” Limnus said as he gently bounced the infant in his arms.  
Angharad rushed forward and Limnus expertly put the boy in her arms. Angharad stared enthralled and wept. Just like Giddy, the babe seemed to flicker between ages. For a moment he was a newborn, frail and sleepy, then he was plumper, burbling sounds into his own fist. Then he returned his mother's fascinated stare and she held him close.  
“I do not know what to call you. I had not thought that far. I had only wanted to bring you to the Green Place, to the Many Mothers, where you would be safe,” she whispered.

Val approached slowly. Her face remained devoid of expression. Angharad pet her son's tufted hair and downy cheeks.  
Miss Giddy sat with Angharad as she knelt into the sand. She offered a finger to the babe who abligingly gripped it with his chubby fingers.

“Look there,” Miss Giddy said, looking out past the bluff. She indicated with her free hand.

A scruffy man limped through the hills. He was far enough away to only just be discernable from their vantage. Angharad pulled her gaze away from her son momentarily.

“It's the Fool,” Val said finally.  
She turned to the scavs, “is he dead, too?”

Dia and Limnus shook their heads.  
“Naw, Max occupies a strange place out here. One foot in, one foot out. He can probably see some of you but he can't see us. Only the dead can see us,” he said.

“Poor soul,” Giddy whispered.

“Max,” Angharad said, tasting the name. She glanced up again to the distant figure.  
He had stopped dead in his tracks, almost like he had heard her. He stared, then his shoulders slumped. His hands flew to his head and collapsed to the ground.

 

The Valkyrie became alert, scanned the horizon, gun raised to her shoulder.  
“Was he shot?” she hissed.

Dia shook her head, “No. It’s hard for him. To see Angharad. He thinks she’s another ghost come to haunt him. To blame him for her death.”

“Is he haunted?” Giddy asked.

“Yes. And no,” Limnus said, “Sometimes the ghosts are real. Sometimes it’s in his head.”

“Sometimes they’re just looking out for him,” Dia said, folding her arms across her chest.  
“He won’t accept help from anyone else.”

“It must be hard for him to see the babe as well. Must think it’s a particularly cruel hallucination,” Dia added absently.

Angharad stared up at her, then Limnus.

“We escorted his wife and child a long time ago,” Limnus explained, “And many more after.”

They all stared at the crumpled figure, alone in the distance. Then Limnus slapped the dust off his hands and kicked himself off the side panel of the rustbucket.

“Well! Who’s ready to go?” he said.  
Dia shook her head in exasperation, “Some bedside-manner you have.”  
“We’ve got other people to pick up,” Limnus said, a teasing lilt in his voice.  
“Time means absolutely nothing out here. Don’t be an ass,” Dia said.  
She then straightened her wrappings and addressed the group.  
“Would any of you like to come with us?”

They were all struck silent for a moment, then nearly all spoke at once.  
“Where?”  
“We have a choice?”  
“What would we do here?”  
“Can we come later?”

Dia held up her hands and waved the barrage of questions down.  
“There are no real rules. Not for your sort, I mean. Come with us if you want, stay if you want. We’ll come find you later.”

“Where is Maadi? Where are the rest of the Many Mothers?” Val asked, voice barely above a whisper.

“Maadi chose to rest. As did some of the others. Some are out there somewhere, riding the wastes,” Limnus said. Val nodded once.

Angharad stared at her son, fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.  
“There’s so much I wanted to do. And you. You never got to do anything. I would have given you everything I had. I would have,” she whispered.

One moment he was a babe in arms, the next he was a man, returning Angharad’s embrace.  
“I know, Mother. I know,” he said.

Angharad recoiled and he let her go. But she steadied herself on his retreating arms and stared in wonder and revulsion at his face. She could see her own face there, but also Joe’s. Her full lips under Joe’s thick brows. Joe’s squint, but her jaw. Her son stood still and let her look at him. He was tall and broad shouldered. He could have brought the Wasteland to its knees.

“What a Warlord you would have been,” she murmured, “You are everything he ever dreamed of..”

“I’m sorry, Mother,” he said and Angharad shook her head.  
Then she pulled him back into an embrace.

“I cannot know what would have been. I can only know what I know now,” he said.  
“Mother, what is my name?”

Angharad pulled back to look at him again, then away to buy herself some time. Her eyes drifted to Max on the horizon.

“I know you will not name me for my father. Shall I have his name? Max?” he said. He gestured to where his mother was gazing.

Angharad smiled faintly.  
“No. I will name you for my friend. She is brave and strong and kind beyond any measure,” she said, turning back to him.

“Your name is Able,” she said.  
He smiled at his mother and helped them both stand.

 

“Will you come with me, Mother?” he said. His hand sweeping to Limnus, Dia, and their car.

“Time makes no difference?” Angharad asked.  
Dia and Limnus shook their heads no.

“What will you do?” Angharad said addressing her teacher.

Giddy turned to Travis, “shall we go wait for our friend Alan?”  
Travis grinned, “Yeah, the old skin-bag shouldn’t be too long, now.”  
“He won’t like that you call him that,” Giddy said teasing.  
“Ah, I’ll love him anyway. Even if he does look like a ballsack now,” Travis said and they both laughed like naughty teenagers.

Giddy embraced Angharad one last time. Travis held Angharad’s hand briefly and then turned to the Valkyrie.  
“Your custom isn’t so dissimilar from mine,” he said. Then he tentatively stepped into her space and pressed his forehead to hers. Val’s stony mask finally cracked and she finished the gesture by pressing her nose to his.

“Kia kaha,” he said and stepped away.

Giddy waved goodbye and the pair made their way down the bluff toward the Citadel.  
The Valkyrie reached after them, then brought her hand to her heart.  
“I think I might have been friends with those two, if we had ever had the chance,” her voice sounded rusty.

“What will you do?” Angharad asked.  
“Time doesn’t matter?” she repeated Angharad’s words and Dia and Limnus again shook their heads.

“Well, I think I’ll ride for a bit. The weather is fair. The road is open and I imagine water and guzz are no longer a problem?” she smirked.

Angharad stared at the untamed woman before her. She wanted so badly to reach out to her. To touch her. To go with her. She turned back to her son. He was smiling at her. He closed the distance again and held her hand.

“Go, Mother. We will find you when you’re ready. This world has nothing for me. I know it’s hard for you to leave it,” he said.

“May I? Come with you?” Angharad said and looked at Val.

Val smiled and nodded to the back of the bike. Angharad embraced Able once more, thanked Limnus and Dia, and dashed over to Val, practically leaping on the back of the motorcycle.

The two groups drove in opposite directions.

Alone, on a hill, Max drove his fingertips into his leg muscles. Eventually his breathing slowed and his heart steadied. His knee complained loudly as he regained his feet.

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'ed- constructive criticism welcomed and encouraged (I know my formatting is bad. I'll look into how to fix that)
> 
> Well, this got out of hand... 8k+ words???  
> This most recent MMFR Exchange was my first. I received three requests made by YoukaiYume. I did not know I only had to fulfill one. So I did them all and it's been an absolute joy.  
> The first two I submitted were FanArt. This third is my very first, official attempt at fan fiction. It's not quite on the mark for what YoukaiYume asked for, but it's in the general spirit of the thing.
> 
> Dia- diaphanous  
> Limnus- liminal  
> Sorry, not sorry. I luv my ferrymen and their on-the-nose names!
> 
> I love Travis with all my heart. Thank you Tyellas for letting me use him. I adore how you handled the History People in your work. And thank you for introducing me to that lovely Maori phrase -Kia kaha- "Be strong."
> 
> Thank you YoukaiYume for challenging me with characters that don't often make it beyond my periphery and as always for your beautiful artwork.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Could Be A Morning Sunrise](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17874104) by [Owlship](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owlship/pseuds/Owlship)




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